'Long Island's Largest Free Music Festival'

The town of Riverhead on eastern Long Island is gearing up for the Third Annual Riverhead Blues Festival. With over 200 performers booked for the 3 day rain or shine music extravaganza taking place July 20-21-22, event organizers are expecting an attendance that may exceed 40,000 over the weekend.

LONG ISLAND GETS READY TO SING THE BLUES

Performers will be coming from as far as Los Angeles and Chicago to play at what is now considered Long Island's largest music event. This year's festival, which kicks off at 4:30 p.m. on Friday July 20, features four separate stages to accommodate acts including the Main Stage located on the banks of the Peconic River in downtown Riverhead off Peconic Avenue; the Keyspan Acoustic Stage on the edge of Grangebel Park at the intersection of West Main Street and Griffing Avenue in Riverhead; The Vision Theatre at 49 East Main Street; and the Vail-Leavitt Music Hall on Peconic Avenue that will provide the venue for a series of educational workshops on different aspects of Blues Music. Another feature that is new for this year is a Mardi Gras theme Blues parade that will make its way down Main Street to the Peconic riverfront at noon on Saturday July 21 and culminate at the Main Stage area.

In addition to top Blues bands from the New York metro area, other notable performers this year include; Relix Records recording artist Kerry Kearney who is also on tour this summer with the Allman Brothers band and Dickie Betts; Murali Coryell, son of fusion jazz guitar legend Larry Coryell; Gold Record recording artist and Blues Hall of Fame inductee Sam Taylor; Shirley King who is the daughter of Blues icon B.B. King; Todd Wolfe, for 5 years the guitarist and occasional co-songwriter for multi-Grammy award winner Sheryl Crow, Atlantic Records recording artist and former member of 'The Drifters' Prentiss McNeil, and from Clarkesdale Mississippi, the cradle of the Blues, Blind Mississippi Morris. A complete listing of performers and a schedule of their performance times is available on-line at the events website www.riverheadblues.com

As in the past free admission to the festival is made possible by the Town of Riverhead, the Riverhead Business Improvement District and numerous corporate sponsors including Atlantis Marine World, Cablevision, D'Addario, Evans, Fender Musical Instruments Corp, Guitar Center, Keyspan, Riverhead Building Supply, Tanger Outlets and White Rock Beverages.

RIVERHEAD FREE BLUES FESTIVAL http://www.riverheadblues.com